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This website provides information on the development of the Republic of Ireland's road network.
It serves as an archive of the progress made in developing a motorway network over the last few decades, and also has updates on new road schemes nationwide.
Details of the current situation are given on the Current Road Programme page.
The full list of all projects, past, present and future, is on the Full Project List page.
Below can be found some maps and news items.
The rest of the maps are on the Maps page, and some general miscellaneous information is here.
Finally, the Futures page has a wishlist of projects that would be useful in the long term.
Note that this is a wishlist and there is no plan to build any of these as of yet.
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NEWS
Update 16/11/2024:
The Adare Bypass element of the M21 scheme has had a tender awarded and is due to start by year end:
"Limerick City and County Council today announces the news that a joint venture of John Sisk & Son (Holdings) Ltd and Sorensen Civil Engineering Ltd, known as Sisk Sorensen JV, has been identified as the Successful Tenderer for the construction of the Adare Bypass. Subject to the necessary approvals, it is programmed to have the contract awarded by the end of 2024."
DroneHawk is on the case and has issued an updated flyover video. It shows before and after shots where properties in the way of the route have been demolished, and where abutments have been built for a bridge over the new Limerick-Foynes freight railway, which is also under construction.
Speaking of DroneHawk, there is also an update on the single carriageway part of N28 at Ringsaskiddy, which commenced construction in October.
The video shows the clearance and earthwork done so far, and later shows the continuing clearance for the main M28 motorway project which is on track to begin full construction in early 2025.
The much beleaguered N52 Ardee Bypass has finally concluded its litigation, as leave to appeal has been denied.
This short single carriageway scheme has had an unusual amount of difficulty getting underway.
"Friends of the Ardee Bog" published a graphic along with their case in which they engage in the zero-sum thinking that an N52 bypass is "Flawed" as it won't solve Ardee's traffic problems, but an N2 bypass is "needed".
Both would be needed to comprehensively tackle this town's traffic flows as it is at the crossroads of Dublin-Derry and midlands-east coast movements.
Note that the northern half of an N2 bypass was provided about 20 years ago - but the southern half remains unbuilt.
From the article:
"The latest High Court challenge to the planned Ardee bypass has failed.
Environmental group "Friends of Ardee Bog" had sought leave to appeal a High Court ruling in May, which refused their application for a judicial review."
Update 03/11/2024:
The N11 improvements in north Wicklow are still under discussion.
The section "Part 5 - Recent and Ongoing Work" in the N11/M11 Bus Priority Interim Scheme latest update document has information on the latest developments on a number of features of the scheme.
There are now plans for "a one-way segregated service road, commencing in advance of the Junction 8 northbound diverge and extending through Kilmacanoge Village as far as the access to Glencormick (L1019) and Avoca."
On the far side of the road a few years ago a similar service road was constructed southbound.
Regarding the plans for the problematic Enniskerry left-in-left-out junction between Jct 6 and Jct 7, in September 2023 the emerging preferred option was to build a new road from one of the roundabouts in the junction 6 complex (serving Bray at Fassaroe) south towards Enniskerry village.
The idea was that the left-in-left-out access to the N11 could then be closed. Since then, two alternative options for enabling this closure are being examined:
- A one-way northbound service road from Junction 7 to Junction 6. As the road passed the Enniskerry junction, it would intersect it.
- A two-way road from Junction 7 up to the Enniskerry access road.
Junction 7's layout is also being examined. It was built with short slip roads and tight bends and it is proposed to rebuild all of them with a new flyover.
A final update on the preferred option is expected to be published in Q1 2025.
Further design work is taking place on the N24 Cahir-Limerick Junction dual carriageway scheme.
The latest map is available on the scheme website.
It is worth noting that the northern end of the scheme leave Pallasgreen and a section of poorly aligned road either end unimproved.
Further north, the existing road is wide and straight as parts of it were improved when the M7 Limerick Bypass was built in the 2000s.
DroneHawk has uploaded a new video of the preparations for M21 Adare bypass.
The video confirms that a tender is expected to be awarded by year end. The camera goes quite close to the ground at times, especially at 3:10!
Update 12/10/2024:
For the N5 Ballaghderreen-Scramoge new road scheme, the latest newsletter
has been published.
(Older newsletters can be found on the scheme's newsletter page.)
There aren't many photos in it, but the few that are there show topsoil strip ongoing with some sections having aggregate foundations laid.
The newsletter notes that when derelict farmhouses were acquired for the project, of which there are many in this part of the country, instead of throwing out all the furniture it was sent to a Men's Shed who chose some pieces to be restored. These were then donated to a local charity.
Update 05/10/2024:
There has been an update on N3 Virginia Bypass:
A Type 2 Divided Road type has been recommended (similar cross section to that of the N3 Kells Bypass). The Type 2 Divided Road will best address the significant safety issues on the current N3 between the Derver roundabout and Lisgrea, potentially saving over 170 collisions along this section of the N3 during a 30-year period, with reduced journey times and increased journey time reliability.
Junctions with the N3 are proposed at Derver and Lisgrea at either end of the proposed Scheme. Intermediate junctions are proposed at Burrencarragh Link Road, R178 Bailieborough Road and at the proposed Ballyjamesduff Link Road.
Approximately 20km of active travel facilities (walking and cycling) will be provided along the full length of the Scheme with connectivity to Maghera, Virginia Town and the adjacent local road network, with access to local amenities and schools.
The locations of two Transport Park and Share Hubs have been identified at Derver and Cornaslieve. These hubs will offer the opportunity for people to change from using a private car to more sustainable transport modes, with walking and cycling routes available to connect to public transport bus services. Transport hubs will have a range of facilities including parking, bus stops with bus shelters and potentially electric bike and vehicle charging points.
The GIS map of the scheme is here. The width of the design corridor has been narrowed from 300 metres to 150 metres. There will be a further design update in Q1 2025.
Perhaps it is a shame the opportunity wasn't taken to have a freeflow junction at the south end of the scheme where it ties in with the N3 Kells Bypass. Instead this will be a large roundabout. There is already another roundabout south of there at the Kells turnoff, however. 20 km of Active Travel facilities is very generous and seems like the new normal.
The last time an announcement was made regarding construction, it was pencilled in for a 2029 start. This timeline still looks realistic.
In more general roads news, the coalition parties Fianna Fail and the Green Party are at loggerheads over the introduction of multi-annual funding for roads.
[Fianna Fail leader] Mr Martin said TII’s concerns about its short-term funding model are valid and not enough progress has been made on delivering road projects because of issues within the Government over road building policy.
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TII’s chief executive Peter Walsh warned last month of possible delays to some of the State’s largest road projects, and a lean 'pipeline' of works, because of how funding is allocated annually rather than for multiple years in advance.
The ambitious M20 Cork to Limerick transport project and the M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy motorway are among the schemes that could be affected by delays, he warned.
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However, [Green Party leader] Mr Ryan said there are no plans to change how TII is funded, insisting that robust procedures are in place to ensure it can deliver annually.
Update 30/09/2024:
There has been some movement on the N2 Clontibret-Border dual carriageway with ground investigation works sought.
A preferred route for the N22 Farranfore-Killarney scheme is expected by the end of this year.
It has been confirmed that there is funding to progress design of the Tubbercurry and Charlestown bypass elements of the N17 Knock-Collooney dual carriageway.
This scheme forms a major part of the Atlantic Corridor. Surveys are due to start shortly with ground investigation in 2025.
In a minor interim scheme, an inbound bus lane is due to be added to the N11 from Loughlinstown Roundabout to Junction 9 Glenview. Here is the route on a map.
Ground Investigation Works are going to start today 30th Sep and take around 3 months, which would have them continue to the end of this year.
Update 07/09/2024:
Not much to report, but the N22 Killarney-Farranfore scheme is due to have a preferred route revealed by year end.
After several false starts, the preferred route corridor for the N22 between Killarney and Farranfore is expected to be announced by the end of the year.
Maps detailing the proposed route will be available for public viewing by the end of October or early November.... The construction of the entire new road could potentially take up to ten years."
This project is another "bypass the bypass" job as a Killarney bypass was previously built in 1989, nowadays known as Bypass Road. Other Irish towns that have done this are Swords (N1/M1) and Enfield (N4/M4), and in future Carrick-on-Shannon (N4) and Galway (N6/M6).
The routing for Killarney will be tricky because as well as replacing the N22 there is a need to connect to both the N71 and N72 to give access to the very popular Ring of Kerry (N70). Also to be decided is whether this new road will be dual carriageway or single, and the start and end points - if the N72 to Mallow will have a connection, and if it will pass north beyond Farranfore or to the south. Watch the space.
Update 10/08/2024:
The July update of the M21 Adare Bypass scheme has been made available. In the first 20 seconds and at 1:30 you can also see the Limerick-Foynes railway rebuild being carried out. At 0:45 there is a large building, too big to be a house, right in the path of the new road. Hedges and their associated dry stone walls can be seen to have been destroyed when they are in the way, especially at 1:55 and 2:10. The future interchange at Rathkeale is right at the end of the video.
The Donegal road projects have been approved by the Cabinet for progression to the next stage of planning. This encompasses:
- Section 1 - N15/N13 Ballybofey/Stranorlar Bypass
- Section 2 - N56/N13 Letterkenny to Manorcunningham
- Section 3 - N14 Manorcunningham to Lifford/Strabane (including the link to the A5).
The next step is to submit planning applications, with a view to construction starting in 2028. The schemes will of course be tendered as 3 separate contracts, which would undergo construction at different times but it looks like for now they will move forward in parallel.
Update 04/07/2024:
The Emerging Preferred Route for the N4 Mullingar to Longford scheme has been made available on the project website.
Click on the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor Map and the Interactive Mapping to see detailed maps.
The blue route has been chosen and has the following features:
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It mostly follows the existing N4 closely from Mullingar to the turnoff to Multyfarnham.
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It passes to the south of Ballinalack, Rathowen and Edgeworthstown.
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It then passes to the northeast of Longford town and Newtown Forbes.
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From there to Rooskey it follows the existing road closely.
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It will have full junctions at Mullingar (already existing), west of Mullingar, Ballinlack, Edgeworthstown, east of Longford, northeast of Longford, north of Newtown Forbes, and the roundabout south of Rooskey.
In the case of the latter, it is not clear if the roundabout will be upgraded.
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No junction will be provided for Rathowen, just side road access.
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There will be numerous other locations where side roads will receive some kind of treatment.
This could be a left-in-left-out junction, an overpass, or an underpass.
It is noteworthy that no specific junction on the new N4 will be provided for the N5 Longford Bypass.
Traffic making this journey will have to exit at Longford and use the existing N4 to get to the N5 Longford Bypass which opened in 2012.
There is a possibility that some traffic will follow its instincts and head as the crow flies to get to the N5 - straight through the town centre.
Another point to note is that the new N4 will pass south of Edgeworthstown, a town which was already bypassed with a single carriageway road in 2006.
A short section of the existing N4 will become the N55 as it passes through the town.
The scheme will be around 49 km long and will be dual carriageway. The exact spec of the road has not been decided at this point.
There will be grade separated junctions but also a lot of side road accesses.
This reflects the fact that the new road is important in a national context and in terms of the quantity of freight it carries, but does not serve enough population to jusify a higher category such as motorway.
There has also been a minor update on the N24 Cahir-Limerick scheme. The update can be found by clicking here and opening Issue 17: May 2024 update.
The project continues to be designed, landowners potentially impacted by the scheme have been contacted and noise surveys are being carried out.
Update 30/06/2024:
A much anticipated M20 update has been put out by the government on the corklimerick.ie website.
This has been reported by the media, including this Irish Times article, but the Irish Independent piece confusingly makes it sound like the cycle lanes will be on the motorway, which of course would be against regulations (they will instead be on parallel routes that pass through the settlements served).
Here in full are the details that have been made public:
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Dual carriageway M20 motorway with a 120kph speed limit selected, following detailed appraisal of alternative road types. The M20 motorway will be five times safer than the current N20 single carriageway and reduces intercity journey times on average by 30 minutes.
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As the largest single active travel project to be undertaken in Ireland, the project will provide up to 100km of safe, shared active travel pathways connecting communities from Blarney to Patrickswell and encourage walking and cycling for work, school, and leisure, linking communities, promoting healthier lifestyles, and reducing transport emissions.
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The location of Transport Hubs identified for Rathduff, Mourneabbey, Mallow, Buttevant, Charleville, Bruree and Croom. These transport hubs will feature park & ride facilities for public transport, park & share, EV charging, and will be connected to local communities with the new active travel network.
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A Freight Hub in Mallow will provide facilities for parking, welfare and EV charging for heavy goods vehicles in accordance with European and National transport policies.
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The project will facilitate efficient public transport options, including the opportunity for quicker intercity express bus services and improved efficiency on existing bus services serving the communities between Cork and Limerick.
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To improve existing infrastructure, the project will utilise over 60% of the existing N20 road corridor for developing the dual carriageway motorway or reallocation of existing road space for the new active travel infrastructure.
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The project team continue to incorporate best practice for environmental, biodiversity and carbon management.
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To encourage sustainable transport choices, support Ireland's climate action plan, and to support the maintenance and renewal of the new transport infrastructure, the project team has recommended demand management measures. These measures include distance based barrier free tolling, whereby users pay on the basis of distance travelled on the new M20 motorway. Work is ongoing to determine appropriate toll charges for the various classes of vehicles, balancing a number of different factors, including the project objective to remove strategic traffic, especially heavy goods vehicles from the communities along the existing N20 to maximise safety and environmental benefits.
Note that previously the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan stated that he intended to lower the standard to which this road would be built, making it a reduced width dual carriageway with lower standard junctions.
It is now confirmed that this will thankfully not be the case.
The transport hubs are a welcome addition as they will provide a place for carpooling, EV charging and bus stops.
The freight hub at Mallow with facilities for HGVs is a first for the country.
Normally active travel and public realm improvements in bypassed towns have to be undertaken by the relevant county council, so it is good news that these improvements will be made as part of the project on this occasion.
The reference to 60% of the existing corridor being reused refers to the fact that the Blarney-Mallow section and Croom bypass are already built in recent decades to a high standard and will simply be reformed into a motorway.
Only the rest of the scheme will be a new offline build.
Barrier-free distance based tolling will be a first for this country.
The M50 has barrier free tolling, but it is still single-point.
Other motorways have multiple point tolling but it is never distance based.
It has not been revealed what the toll rate per kilometre would be, though France charges €0.10/km.
At this rate, the new 80 km of motorway would cost 8 euro to travel in full, a fair bit higher than other Irish motorways cost.
The final design and "fence line" (showing the exact amount of land the new road will require) will be published at the end of this year.
The planning application is expected in 2025 with construction following in 2027.
All going according to plan, the road would then open in 2031 but it may be delivered sectionally.
The scheme website has made far more detailed information available on a different page.
If you scroll to the bottom, you can find links to an overall scheme map, detailed design maps, and a promo video which seems to be the same as one they posted before.
Update 19/06/2024:
The 6 km western bypass of Listowel in County Kerry opened to traffic on 18th of June.
It can be seen on Openstreetmap, and is all single carriageway and replaces a section of the N69.
It cost €61M and an official opening will follow soon.
The tender for the construction of the 7 km section of the M21 motorway around Adare in County Limerick has been published.
Here is a map of the section.
The tender also says "The Croagh to Adare section of the Project, including the 2 grade separated junctions, is required to be fully operational by June 2027, in advance of the 2027 Ryder Cup."
This section, which runs from Croagh to Adare, will not connect directly to the existing end of the dualled section of the N21 to the east.
This may be influenced by the fact that the future M20 motorway will move the location of the M20/M21 split, but it is an odd choice as most Ryder Cup traffic will be coming from Limerick and Shannon (i.e. the east), so will have to traverse the gap between Adare and the N20/N21 split.
The remainder of the project will follow shortly after.
This includes the gap as far as the M20 to the east; a westward extension to the Rathkeale bypass; and the building of a new dual carriageway N69 alignment to Foynes with a link road to Askeaton.
Update 17/06/2024:
Construction continues to ramp up on the N5 Ballaghderreen-Scramogue project.
It will take a total of 4 years to build and is expected to open at the end of 2027.
Here is a remarkable drone video of the Patrickswell-Rathkeale (including the Adare Bypass) M21 motorway scheme.
Significant topsoil strip, access road preparation and hedgerow and boundary wall removal can be seen.
The N52 Ardee bypass has had its judicial review dismissed.
There are still 8 weeks after the decision in which this can be appealed, but if not the scheme can proceed to construction.
Note that it is only a minor scheme in the grand scheme of things - 4 km of single carriageway.
It will make east-west journeys through Ardee much easier, connecting the N52 to the N33.
Here is the latest update on N11/N25 Oilgate-Rosslare. Planning application to be lodged Q3 2026.
"Following the commencement of Phase 3 (Design and Environmental Evaluation) in December 2021, the Project Team has made progress on the development of the design of the Preferred Transport Solution.
Our environmental specialists continue to undertake wide ranging ecology surveys in relation to badgers, otters, birds, bats, and barn owls amongst others. In addition, noise and air quality surveys, archaeological geophysical surveys, cultural heritage walkover surveys, agronomy surveys, and ground investigation works have progressed. These surveys have been facilitated by landowners granting Wexford County Council and our agents’ permission to access their lands, and liaison is on-going.
In line with current policies, e.g. the Climate Action Plan, the Project Team are now examining provision of the following facilities as part of the project:
An Online Service Area with EV Charging infrastructure and Safe & Secure Parking facilities.
Active Travel facilities to meet future demand.
This body of work is extensive, and has extended the timeframe to complete Phase 3.
It is programmed that the project will be submitted to the Department of Transport (in accordance with the Infrastructure Guidelines) in Q1 2026; with permission to make Planning Application submission to An Bord Pleanála (i.e. to progress to Phase 4 – Statutory Processes) anticipated in Q3 2026 (subject to receiving the necessary approvals and the availability of funding).
Update 16/04/2024:
Thinking big, Claremorris Chamber of Commerce has called for the N17 "Atlantic Corridor" route from Galway to Sligo to not only be improved, but built as a full motorway. Previously it was planned as a dual carriageway, then town bypasses only, but you can always hope.
They go on to talk about the recent spate of road fatalities near Claremorris and advocate that the road be improved all the way to Derry in Northern Ireland:
"The point is that motorway is needed all the way from Tuam to Sligo and onwards to Donegal and Derry.
Until we get that standard of road, the fatalities and the disabilities will continue to mount and countless families will be bereft."
The N4 Carrick-on-Shannon bypass could be done by 2029.
A recent article provides an update:
The project is currently at Phase 3 (Design and Environmental evaluation) which is expected to be concluded by the end of 2024.
Phase 4 (Statutory Procedures) will then commence where a planning application will be formally submitted to An Bord Pleanála in early 2025.
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District engineer, Darragh O'Boyle said that detailed design on a project of this scale will take two years.
"If everything is in line, you could be driving it in 2029. This timeline depends on the funding being available to bring it in through the gates to the next phase. The statutory process and An Bord Pleanála may delay things and it depends on how many objections there are. If all ducks are in a row, it's 2029."
This scheme used to consist of a 21 km dual carriageway around the town and as far south as the next section of dual at Dromod, but has been greatly reduced to only a 5.8 km town bypass element. There is no plan to build the part to Dromod.
Details of the scheme can be found here. The map is on Page 4.
The bypass will have 3 roundabouts and will pass closely to the south of the town, skirting the rail line to avoid having to bridge it. The town already has several retail parks and it looks like the new bypass will be quickly absorbed into the existing built-up area.
A new "urban street" will also be constructed to the north of the built up area from Castlecara Road to R280. This will provide a northern bypass segment but also will support future town development.
A drone update of the N69 Listowel Bypass has been released. The project was originally due to open in February of this year, then early this year it was estimated at April/May.
But judging by those overhead shots, that is optimistic. Some time over the summer is more likely.
Listowel already has a "throughpass" called the John B. Keane Road. This long new section creates a western bypass towards Tralee across the River Feale and is 4.8 kilometres long.
Leo Varadkar resigned as Taoiseach recently and has been quickly replaced by Simon Harris who now takes over as Irish Prime Minister.
He seems to be making his views on road investment clear with a pointed statement about how he urgently wants an update on the M20 Cork-Limerick motorway project, currently due to start construction in 2027. The Minister of Transport is from the Green Party and has expressed a lack of interest in building "big roads" so the Taoiseach is nailing his colours to the mast:
Mr Harris said he is a "big believer" in continued investment in the road network.
"I signed up to a Programme for Government that is anti-carbon, not anti-car; a Programme for Government that recognises that we all need to change how we live - we get that, we get the climate emergency, we absolutely need to continue to improve our public transport and I commend the work of Minister (Eamon) Ryan in relation to that but we also need to continue to invest in our road network," he told reporters.
"I'm very conscious of the fact that in the Department of Transport now, there are very many large capital projects and that is a good thing. I will certainly be seeking an urgent update in relation to the M20 and engaging with my colleagues here (in Limerick). I haven't had that opportunity yet to sit down and talk to Minister Ryan in relation to it but from the point of view of Fine Gael in government, continuing to invest in our road network."
The Taoiseach said such investment is important from a safety point of view but also in terms of the transition to electric-power vehicles. "Where are we going to put these electric vehicles? We do need to actually have good safe roads to put them on so I don't think it's a question of 'is it public transport or is it roads?' - It's a question of investing in our infrastructure overall."
The article also explains that the project is due to come before Cabinet by the end of the year and a planning application will be submitted thereafter.
Update 08/04/2024:
The single carriageway N22 Killarney bypass, which was defunded recently, has been allocated the modest sum of €750,000 for this year which will allow it to continue in route selection with a choice to be made by the end of 2024.
On the N21, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale will be bypassed.
The 400-metre corridor for these has now been reduced to 200 metres.
When these are ready for construction, the corridor will be further shrunk. Both bypasses will be dual carriageways.
M28 enabling works are continuing apace, as visible in this drone video, and some sections have already had the topsoil stripped.
We can expect this scheme to start by the end of this year.
Update 12/03/2024:
Road grant allocations for 2024 have been announced. TII has put out the
project status update as of February 2024.
There are two great pieces of news: the M21 Adare-Foynes scheme will start later this year, with the Adare Bypass element due to open by 2027, and the M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy will start by the end of the year.
From the Limerick Leader article on the M21:
"The project is expected to go out for contract tender this coming April. It is estimated that the contract for the project will be awarded in September 2024 with construction then getting underway and crucially, the date for completion of the Bypass is June 2027 – 3 months ahead of the Ryder Cup in September which is a very positive development."
The Adare bypass will be opened as single carriageway with roundabouts while construction on the full scheme continues.
So all going well, we should hopefully have two new motorway segments underway by year end!
The TII's PDF has other updates too:
N2 Slane Bypass had its planning application submitted for approval on 1st Dec 2023.
N6 Galway Ring Road is stuck in bureaucratic hell, with more documentation, including an updated traffic model, due to be submitted by Sep 2024.
N11/N25 Oilgate-Rosslare is still being designed.
Donegal Schemes: The assessment of the business case for these is ongoing since June 2023. It is awaiting signoff from the Minister.
M20 Cork-Limerick: Preliminary business case is due to be submitted in late 2024. Here is more info.
N72/N73 Mallow Bypass: Planning application due to be submitted this year.
N17 Knock to Collooney: The Tobercurry and Charlestown bypass elements are to be progressed first.
For many years now, there has been a plan for the Irish government to fund the upgrade of the A5 road in Northern Ireland. Finally the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has made a financial commitment to it to the tune of €600M. This road matters to the Republic as it forms part of the Dublin-Derry road, and its upgrade will greatly improve safety, to the relief of locals. Under the "Shared Island Initiative", it has been announced that the Republic will fund this and other projects, including the Narrow Water bridge between Warrenpoint, N.I. and Omeath, R.O.I. The initiative will also fund an hourly rail service between Belfast and Dublin, and a redevelopment of a GAA stadium in West Belfast, Casement Park. However, this latter project is seen by the Northern Ireland political establishment to be controversial.
Update 27/02/2024:
Today the Dunkettle Interchange has completely opened to traffic.
It has taken 4 years to build.
It looks great from the air!
From the article:
The Dunkettle Interchange is the junction of four national roads, the M8 Cork-Dublin Motorway; the N25 Cork-Waterford/Rosslare route; the N40 Cork South Ring Road and the N8 Dunkettle-Cork city national route.
The interchange is located five kilometres east of Cork City centre and lies mainly within the Cork City Council administrative area.
The project has delivered eighteen new road links totalling 10km in length and seven new bridge structures, as well as upgrade works carried out on five pre-existing structures; and upgrades and resurfacing works to the N25 road between Tivoli Roundabout and the Little Island Interchange.
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Traffic volumes through the Dunkettle interchange are at an all-time high, approaching 120,000 vehicles on the busier days of the week.
Despite this, Transport Infrastructure Ireland reports that journey times during peak hours have reduced by almost 50 per cent on average as a result of this upgrade project.
Journey time savings of almost 60 per cent are being achieved on the N40 to N25 route during peak hours, while time savings of over 50 per cent are being achieved on routes accessed via the M8 Southbound.
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Peter Walsh, chief executive of Transport Infrastructure Ireland, said that the project marks the culmination of a journey that has been ten years in the making.
The project is not without its issues. There have been complaints that the signage is unclear; in particular when northbound out of the N40 tunnel, the right-hand exit for M8 is very sudden.
This is due to lack of room but advance signage would be prudent as motorists have little time to get ready.
The N25 to N40 Tunnel movement has very little room since the tunnel is only 2 lanes each way.
The onramps from before and right at the new Little Island junction are a total of 3 lanes, but this is reduced to only 1 which then becomes one of the tunnel lanes, the other being for the M8 Southbound flow.
Already this has been causing queuing issues, but little can be done without drilling another tunnel bore.
The west-east cycle lane does not underpass the junction but forces cyclists up to L2998 here where they must double-back before passing under the M8, then through a series of roundabouts before finally getting to L3004 where it can use the old road up to Glounthane and beyond.
An underpass of the Dunkettle Roundabout to M8 slip road at this location would have allowed bikes to head east for a far more direct route.
Update 09/02/2024:
Things are coming to a close for the huge Dunkettle Interchange project in Cork. The final part, Link C, leading from N25 East (from Midleton) to M8 (towards Dublin), is in this video. On Monday 12th Feb, this will open along with Link P, the short part from Little Island East junction to Link C. The Tánaiste Micheál Martin TD will attend to officially open the scheme. Beyond that, there will only be tidying and landscaping left. Phew!
There is a small amount of light at the end of the tunnel for the beleaguered N52 Ardee Bypass. In a recent article in the media:
"...A High Court date has been set, 9 April 2024, for a Judicial Review hearing against An Bord Pleanála (ABP) and the Board's directions to Louth County Council concerning the preparations of an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) and Natura Impact Statement (NIS), for the N52 Ardee Bypass."
Hopefully this JR is seen off quickly, which would allow the scheme to move to construction.
The media are confirming the timeline for the M21:
The whole Limerick to Foynes Project is set to be completed by the end of 2030. The 35 kilometres of road will connect the Port of Foynes to the motorway network, and bypass Adare. The 7km Adare bypass section has been fast-tracked and is due to be ready in 2027, but the rest of the project is expected to be tendered for in 2026 or 2027.
However, this Irish Times article is less optimistic:
A €150 million bypass project fast-tracked so that it would be in place for the Ryder Cup in Adare, Co Limerick, may not be finished in time for the golf tournament.
In internal documents prepared in September and November last year, the Department of Transport was warned that time was running out for the 7km road to be finished by the time the international golf event takes place in September 2027.
A letter from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) said there was no way the entire bypass scheme could be finished in time for the Ryder Cup. Still, chief executive Peter Walsh said there was a narrow window to partially complete it to help divert traffic from the heritage town of Adare.
The Green Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, is generally not keen on what he calls "big roads". However he does agree that 'We should be prioritising bypasses and taking traffic out of towns' and so has recently indicated that he views the "Donegal TEN-T" collection of road projects with favour. The schemes are due to be put before Cabinet early this year which would give them the formal green light, opening up funding to move them to the construction phase. The schemes are the Letterkenny Bypass, the Letterkenny to Manorcunningham upgrade, the Letterkenny to Lifford dual carriageway, and the Ballybofey & Stranorlar bypass.
Update 07/01/2024:
There has been a small increase in the number of road fatalities in 2023, at 184. This follows another increase in 2022. It is important to remember that this figure is still very low when compared with Ireland's historical road fatality figures, which were in the 500s-600s in the 1970s. In the last decade, they reached a low of 130 in 2021, which was probably influenced by lower traffic levels during the pandemic.
The completion of the N69 Listowel Bypass has been delayed.
It was due to open in February of this year but this has been pushed out to "March or April".
The new single carriageway road forms the western part of the town bypass.
The eastern part was completed as a throughpass - a bypass that runs through the town itself.
The new part will allow Tralee to Ballybunion (a popular seaside town) and Tralee to Limerick traffic to pass the town without having to penetrate the narrow streets of the oldest part.
A video of the Dunkettle Interchange in Cork documents the work done on the final major element to open to traffic - the N25 East to M8 North ramp.
This long ramp which has to combine with the ramp coming from the new Little Island interchange has made a lot of progress recently and should be ready for use within a month or two.
The entire scheme was due to open by April of this year and still seems to be on track.
There is good news on the N2 Clontibret to Border project, a dual carriageway that will run the east of Monaghan town to the Northern Ireland border, cutting the corner of the existing N2 to shorten the distance.
This scheme was suspended in 2021 by the Minister for Transport but in November of this year it was resumed:
After being suspended for almost two years, the N2 Clontibret to Border Road Scheme has secured EU and Department of Transport funding and is now back up and running.
Jacobs commenced the design process for this project in late 2018. The design process is following a framework set out by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) called the 'Project Management Guidelines'. The guidelines break the design of major road projects into phases, and by early 2021 Phase 1 and 2 of the design process were complete, and a 400m wide Preferred Route Corridor was published.
...
The Phase 3 design process is recommencing in November 2023. Jacobs continue to be the engineering consultant, working on behalf of Monaghan County Council to design the road scheme. Due to the time that has lapsed since the project was suspended, Jacobs may need to review or repeat some previous work, for example environmental surveys may need to be updated. The project team will be in contact with landowners along the route to request access to lands for these surveys.
...
As the design of the road develops the project team will meet with directly affected landowners to discuss the potential impact of the scheme - this is expected to take place in late 2024/early 2025. Feedback will then be considered before a design is finalised. Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) documentation and an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) can then be completed - it is expected that this element of the project will be complete by Q4 2025. Subject to further funding, approval and Government consent, the project could then be submitted to An Bord Pleanála as part of the statutory approval process.
The press release explains that the scheme was reactivated after an alternative funding source was found from the Connecting Europe Facility, an EU fund that targets infrastructure investment that will promote growth, jobs and competitiveness.
The tender for the ground investigation works has indeed been published, so it looks like things are moving here finally.
Upgrading the N2 and the A5 on the Northern Ireland side are island-wide priorities which will create an improved Dublin-Derry and Letterkenny corridor, when combined with associated schemes such as N14 Letterkenny-Lifford which are making progress as part of separate initiatives.
Update 20/12/2023:
The extremely (implausibly) high cost of building N5 Scramogue-Ballaghaderreen of €450 million has indeed proven to be inaccurate.
According to the tender document, the actual cost is €259.8 million.
Even this seems high since it works out at 7.6 million per kilometre for a 34 km scheme, but we are living through a period of high inflation which is particularly acute in the construction sector.
The 450 million figure is described by the Department of Transport as an "estimated total scheme cost" which means what they think it might cost by project closeout including unforeseen costs, active travel measures in bypassed towns and a lot of contingency.
It is a great pity Roadbridge, the original contractor, went bust or we could be nearing completion by now and it would have come in a lot cheaper. The original cost was €135M in July 2021.
The latest version of the beleagured N11 improvement scheme has received thousands of objections from local residents, according to the media (archived).
Previously the plan was to add extra lanes, bus lanes, and close side exits.
In early 2023 this was reduced to just the bus lane elements and closing side exits, but this news has been very unpopular with the Wicklow locals.
[Councillor Joe Behan said,] "I reiterated my personal view that this crazy, ill thought-out and completely unworkable scheme should be withdrawn in its entirety and instead we should be prevailing on the Government to restore the funding for a comprehensive improvement of the N11 for everyone in County Wicklow, including the people of Bray, Enniskerry and Kilmacanogue.
"The Government plan to close off exits at Herbert Road, Dargle Lane, Silverbridge, Glencormack and Enniskerry junctions has been comprehensively rejected by the vast majority of people who live in these areas and who use these exits every day, and it would be a very foolhardy Government which would decide to proceed with a plan which has little or no public support," he added.
Objections included what locals called a "locked in" situation whereby they would feel confined to their areas, unable to access the main road as easily as they'd like (they would of course still be able to, just might have to detour a little more):
"The impact closing vital exits would have on access for emergency services, as well as the mental well-being of 'locked-in' residents are also fears that have been raised."
Although not confirmed, reports in the media (archived) are saying that the N24 Tipperary Bypass may now only be proceeding as a single carriageway road and not dual as was previously promised:
"Independent Deputy Mattie McGrath said he found out at a meeting with Tipperary County Council on Friday morning, December 15, that the road near Tipperary Town will be a single carriageway."
However it seems this may have been a misunderstanding.
The single carriageway was used in the mapping showing the option corridors while the project was in route selection and it appears it was indicative only.
If this is true then the scheme will still be carried out as a dual carriageway after all.
Update 11/12/2023:
The N59 Moycullen bypass has opened.
The official press release can be read here.
It is a 4.3 km single carriageway passing east of the village and has been in planning for decades.
This will make it easier getting to and from Connemara, a unique and very scenic area of Ireland.
The bypass now appears on OpenStreetMap.
Following the award of the contract for N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge, on Friday 8th Dec contract signing occurred.
This paves the way for full construction to begin immediately, although preparatory work has been going on for a while now.
The Independent has a full report:
"Contracts for the construction of County’s Roscommon 'largest ever single road contract' which bypasses four towns have been finalised.
The project, which has the estimated total scheme cost of more than €450m, bypasses the towns and villages of Frenchpark, Bellanagare, Tulsk and Strokestown.
The main construction contract was awarded to Wills Bros. Ltd, Ballylahan Bridge, Foxford, County Mayo.
The Contract duration is four years, and accordingly the project is anticipated to be substantially complete by October 2027. ... Some preparatory works have already commenced on the new road."
Four years seem like a long time for a single carriageway road and there is either padding in the contract or the ground conditions are poor and so will take some time to remediate.
The latter seems likely as the terrain is quite marshy. When this scheme is complete, the N5 will have been fully upgraded with no further schemes planned.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar commented today that he is certain that the M6 Galway Bypass is compatible with the government's climate goals.
"The Taoiseach has said that he does not believe that the construction of a ring road around Galway is in conflict with the Government's climate action targets, but said he would be afraid to put a timeframe on the project given the delays it has faced.
Speaking at the opening of the N59 Maigh Cuilinn Bypass in Galway, Leo Varadkar said he was hopeful that planning permission would be granted for the project next year.
He said while there is a possibility of legal challenges after that, the new Planning and Environment Division of the High Court, which sits for the first time today, will enable these kinds of cases to be heard more quickly."
Speaking of which, today was indeed the inaugural sitting of a new court devoted to planning and environmental matters. It is hoped that this will speed up the processing of challenges to planning related decisions. Judicial Reviews (JRs) of these decisions are very problematic, often causing years of delay to major construction projects:
"The ceremonial first sitting of the High Court's Planning and Environment Division was attended by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Attorney General Rossa Fanning, as well as barristers and solicitors specialising in the area.
The minister said the court would allow planning, development and environmental issues to be dealt with more efficiently and effectively.
She said this was key to enable the State to deliver housing and infrastructure while also protecting the environment.
The AG told the court that no one who valued the rule of law should want to see litigation weaponised as a tactic of obstruction and delay. And he said we could not live in a society where vital infrastructural developments are routinely paralysed for years by legal objections.
Mr Fanning said legal challenges to large projects must be determined promptly, irrespective of outcome and he believed the new court would perform a vital societal role in this regard."
In a related development, on 21st Nov the government published the new Planning and Development Bill, which involves a major overhaul of the country's legislation in this area.
An Bord Pleanala will be renamed to An Coimisiún Pleanála (The Planning Commission) and the bar for submitting planning objections will be raised using a number of tactics.
The legislation also introduces time limits of between 18 and 48 weeks on making a decision.
Seemingly these will be enforced with punitive measures including fines and ministerial intervention.
The overhaul of the law is long overdue as the planning system in Ireland has become increasingly sclerotic over the years with planning decisions often taking years, only to be blocked by endless appeals.
The planning application for the N2 Slane Bypass was submitted on the 6th of December.
The official press release is here.
It will measure 3.5 km long and will be dual carriageway - previously it was to be built as single.
A previous application was rejected in 2012 as it impinged too much on the special conservation zone around Newgrange, called Brú na Bóinne.
A map of the scheme is on page 2 of this document.
There will also be a 1.3 km realignment of the east-west N51 road.
The Donegal road projects, known as the TEN-T projects, will be presented to Cabinet in the new year. If approved, they will officially enter the planning stage.
Update 01/12/2023:
The N59 Moycullen bypass will open on 11th December, it has been confirmed. The bypass is single carriageway and measures 4.3 km.
Astonishingly, according to the article the bypass received planning permission in 2012 but did not start construction until January 2022.
It has been confirmed that the 7 km Adare bypass element of the M21/N69 Limerick-Foynes scheme is to go ahead soon as a standalone project, in time for the Ryder Cup golf tournament in 2027. This part of the scheme will cost €150 million. It looks like the balance of the scheme (to Rathkeale and Foynes) will take place in parallel, but will be completed some time after 2027.
Meanwhile farmers affected by the scheme have been complaining.
Stephen Keary, a councillor for the local district, believes that a "goodwill payment" was due to the landowners which is being negotiated in the background:
According to Limerick City and County Council (LCCC), the council issued the notice to treat (NTT) on all lands that form part of the Foynes to Limerick (Including Adare Bypass) Project in August.
...
"The way they’re treating us now is similar to what Cromwell did in the 1650s, giving people the opportunity to go to hell or to Connacht. I'm not going to hell or to Connacht and I'm going to stay put," he added.
...
"This is only to facilitate the Ryder Cup... As far as I am concerned the building of this road is to support the development of the port of Foynes. If it's only for Adare village, forget about it, I wouldn’t have it as a priority, it’s only a three-day event."
The part about the Ryder Cup is not accurate. He makes it sound like the bypass is only for a 3-day event, but the town has needed a bypass for over 40 years and will have one forever once it is built, with the balance of the scheme as follow-on project.
A timeline for the Donegal TEN-T projects has been announced, with the roads all expected to be open within the next 8 years. This would put the opening year at 2031. The projects, which are on the N13, N14, N15 and N56, are shown in the article in an accompanying map.
The latest video on the M28 shows the advanced site preparation that is taking place.
A contract has been signed for stages 5-7 of the project which covers tender documents, procurement, construction, and close out.
The future corridor of the M20 Limerick-Cork motorway has been refined, with the width now 200 metres. It will be further reduced next year. The location of interchanges for Mallow and Charleville is also being finalised now. It is expected that a planning application will be lodged by the end of 2024. The most recent timeline for construction is from 2027-2031. This new road is badly needed as with 17 fatalities between 2011 and 2018, that makes around 2 deaths a year and 4 serious injuries. The official announcement on all this is here.
Additionally there will be rail improvements:
Iarnrod Eireann has also been asked to consider a "no change hourly service" between both cities in an effort to improve rail links, which it is believed will increase demand for train transport to and from both locations.
All of this can be seen on the scheme website by clicking Interactive Mapping.
Update 21/11/2023:
The third and final section of the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney dual carriageway opened on 6th Nov.
This completes the 22 km project which has been planned for decades.
The road can be seen on OpenStreetMap.
There are several press articles, and a flythrough video.
Finally, here is a video showing a timelapse of the construction of the "Deep Cut" section in the far western part of the scheme, where a river bridge is immediately followed by a deep cutting through a hill.
At 3:38 there is a long shot of this.
In the latest video of the Dunkettle Interchange project, most movements are now complete.
The exceptions are N25 Westbound mainline where one lane is coned off due to reconstruction, and N25 Westbound to M8 Northbound ramp which is still substantially unfinished.
The start of the latter is visible at 1:44, where a blue motorway sign with greyed out text can be seen, and the end is at 3:11.
Work to tie in to the M8 here has not even started.
In addition there is still work to be done on N40 Tunnel Northbound to N25 City Westbound as not all of the new lane is open (2:56), and much tidying needs to be done where old movements have been removed, such as at 3:47.
The interchange has some issues that seem substandard.
From 0:37-0:48 you can see how M8 Southbound traffic wishing to head N25 Eastbound peels off the M8 on a single lane ramp only to join with two other lanes - but motorists would then need to switch to the middle lane in order to reach their destination.
If they stay in the same lane, they exit to the new Little Island West junction.
Worse, the eastbound diverge from N25 Westbound to Tunnel merges 3 lanes into 1.
This has to be done as there's only room for 1 lane to enter the tunnel (the other is for M8 Southbound to N40 Tunnel) but it is already causing problems.
You can see the merge spot at 2:22 in the video but all the slow moving traffic from 0:45-1:15 and 4:35-4:50 is due to this issue.
The project is due to open in February 2024.
Today it was confirmed by the Government that the Adare Bypass element of the M21/N69 Limerick-Foynes scheme will be accelerated in order to get it finished by September 2027 when the Ryder Cup makes it to Adare, Limerick.
It's not clear what the timeframe for the rest of the project is.
Update 03/11/2023:
There has been uncertainty recently around roads funding, with some sources saying the National Development Plan is now underfunded due to high inflation which is particularly high for construction costs. However seemingly infrastructural spending has recently been topped up. This means, amongst other things, that the new N4 Mullingar-Rooskey road is now expected to move to route selection in 2024:
"Longford / Westmeath Fianna Fáil TD Joe Flaherty has welcomed an additional €900m in infrastructural funding and believes it will ensure that the planned N4 (Mullingar to Rooskey) upgrade proceeds to route selection in 2024.
...
The additional funding is to aid the delivering of the National Development Plan, which includes the N4 upgrade."
The final stage of the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme will open on Monday 6th.
This is the culmination of many, many years of planning, design and construction.
Locals will be glad this is over!
"Work has been ongoing on the bypass since January 2020.
The first section of the road opened to traffic in December 2022, with the second section opening in August 2023."
The N78 Athy Southern Bypass opened on 31st October.
This single carriageway road will take through traffic out of Athy, allowing M9 motorists to avoid the town centre.
According to the article, the first bit of land purchased for this was in 1960.
Planning for the 18 km Galway Ring Road has been resubmitted. Previously this was granted permission, but the permission was quashed because the planning board did not take into account the government's Climate Action Plan.
The article does not go into detail (as it may not be available) as to what changes have been made to the application. It will need to address the issues that caused the quashing the first time around.
The M11 Oylegate-Rosslare project may be delayed a little due to the new requirement that all motorways now need to have a service area every 30 km. Previously this was every 50 km.
Update 19/10/2023:
The Irish Government in the budget for 2024 has established a Sovereign Wealth Fund and an Infrastructure, Climage and Nature Fund.
The latter can be used to fund infrastructure projects when there is a general funding shortfall during economic downturns.
This is great news for the funding security of major road (and rail!) projects coming up in the next few years.
The establishment of such a fund is an idea that has been floated for many years and would have been especially useful after the 2008 economic crisis.
In the wake of this, funding was withdrawn for all spending except essential services resulting in infrastructure projects having to be cancelled and later restarted, meaning that money spent so far was wasted and adding years to the project lifecycle.
Tempers are flaring over the slow progress of road building under a Green Minister for Transport.
The chief executive of TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland), Peter Walsh, has come straight out and accused Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan of intentionally holding up road projects:
"Peter Walsh, its chief executive, clearly outlined how the transport minister has put a set of green handcuffs on its road-building programme at the Oireachtas transport committee last week.
...
Ryan has given the TII the funding to complete roads which are already under construction ... But his advisers have found a clever way for him to long-finger the projects using a little-known section of road traffic legislation. Section 24 of the roads act allows Ryan to set down “conditions as he sees fit” on how TII uses its road funding.
...
But due to the conditions set down by Ryan, TII cannot advance any of these ten road projects towards construction.
"
It has been announced that the Adare Bypass element of the N21/N69 Limerick-Foynes road project will be prioritised in order to be ready in 2027 in time for the Ryder Cup:
"Locally, Tim Fitzgerald, a senior engineer responsible for the project has told councillors the seven-kilometre section of the road from Attyflynn to Croagh, which is ostensibly the bypass of Adare, will be the priority."
The remainder of the road will probably open the following year or shortly thereafter.
Note that the end of the article erroneously speculates that passengers will also be able to use the railway line which is currently being rehabilitated and brought back into use:
"The potential of trains being ready raises the prospect of cruise ships arriving into Foynes and its passengers then travelling by rail to Adare Manor for the Ryder Cup."
There are no plans to have passenger services on it, only freight.
The opening of the final 6 km section of the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme has been pushed back to early November.
The deep cuttings, impressive civil engineering and dramatic landscape of this scheme are clearly visible in the latest drone video.
The 100-metre wide route corridors for the N21 Abbeyfeale and Newcastlewest bypasses will be announced by the end of the year, in "November or December".
It is hoped that a planning application will be lodged in 2024.
The "TEN-T Projects" in Donegal have appeared in the media recently.
The projects are:
- N15/N13 Ballybofey and Stranorlar
- N56/N13 Letterkenny to Manorcunningham (note this also includes the N56 Letterkenny Bypass)
- N14 Manorcunningham to Lifford
The article reveals that the government's new Public Spending Code and Common Appraisal Framework for Transport Projects and Programmes constitute new red tape that seem to be slowing the projects down.
However it is anticipated that the projects will move to CPO by the end of the year.
The N59 Moycullen bypass will open no later than 22nd November.
This single carriageway road measures 4.3 km and will free up the Galway village for local use by removing through traffic and making it safer.
Update 05/10/2023:
The N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge single carriageway road scheme has been approved by Government and will now move to construction.
This has also been reported in the local news.
With this project, the N5 will essentially be complete, as there are no more planned road upgrade projects on the corridor.
It will take 4 years to build and is 34 km long. The existing route is also 34 km.
Astonishingly, the cost has now more than doubled to €450 million, up from €194 million reported in the recent past.
Explaining the eye-watering cost (though it isn't clear what exactly is included in the €450 million figure), Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan explains that inflationary pressures are becoming extreme and projects across all sectors are seeing huge cost increases. This doesn't bode well for other big infrastructure investments that the Government is planning soon.
The main construction contract for M28 Cork-Ringsaskiddy has gone to tender.
The time limit is November of this year so things are certainly gaining momentum here.
Here is the latest drone footage of the N22 Ballyvourney section of the Macroom-Ballyvourney project.
This final section will open later this month.
This spectacular drone footage on the website of the R494 and Killaloe Bypass shows the progress the project is making.
This is not on a national (trunk) route but is major in terms of cost and the strategic nature of the route.
Killaloe is a popular tourist town and is the first River Shannon crossing south of Lough Derg.
It is used to get from Nenagh and the N7 to Ennis and County Clare.
Update 24/09/2023:
The final 5 kilometres of the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme, the Ballyvourney Bypass, is pencilled in for an opening on October 27 according to an article in the media.
Although the article is from Aug 10, the fact that the temporary speed limit will be lifted on that date would strongly suggest that that is the opening date.
The scheme, which had been planned for many decades, will then be complete.
On this news feed on 06/08/2022, the Department of Public Expenditure announced start and end dates for several major motorway projects over the next few years.
Recently they have announced the update on progress, and it is good to say that the dates are the same so there has been no slippage.
The next events for the projects are:
M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy: Approval Gate 2 - Pre-tender Approval (PDF page 29) with main contractor procurement in Q3 2023.
M21/N69 Limerick-Foynes: Approval Gate 2 - Pre-tender Approval (PDF page 28) with main contractor procurement in Q3 2023.
N6/M6 Galway Bypass: Approval Gate 2 - Pre-tender Approval (PDF page 27) with main contractor procurement in Q1 2025.
M20 Cork-Limerick: Approval Gate 1 - Approval in Principle (PDF page 26) with main contractor procurement in Q4 2025.
The M20 motorway between Cork and Limerick is still expected to start construction in 2027 and be completed in 2031, and to cost north of €1 billion.
It is also heartening to see the cost confirmed in the billion euro range, after it was erroneously stated by the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan that the project could cost up to 3 billion.
The M20 will likely be the last motorway built in Ireland, or at least the last with a significant length.
The exact start and end points are Patrickswell, Limerick and Blarney, Cork (with its famous stone), giving the new road a length of 75-80 km.
The M28 Motorway has been confirmed as starting in early 2025 but not finishing until 2030.
This build time is implausibly long unless they are intentionally stretching this project out, or there is messy traffic management involved.
However the Dunkettle interchange is messy too and will only be a 3 1/4-year build when done.
The N6/M6 Galway Bypass is a surprising inclusion as it is now unlikely that the scheme will proceed on environmental grounds.
The M21 Adare Bypass is on track.
N52 Ardee Bypass has been subjected to an unusual amount of delay and is now scheduled to be built from 2026-2028.
Update 16/09/2023:
This was missed a few months ago but the PIN (Prior Information Notice) for the M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy project was published in June. Here is a link to the PIN.
These alert the construction industry to the upcoming tender so that they can assess it for suitability and prepare a response when the actual tender is issued.
Pre-qualification of contractors should commence soon. Thankfully it looks like we are still on track for a 2024 Q4 start date for the main works.
It can be seen in the PIN that the 1.5 km single carriageway element of the project, which runs around Ringaskiddy itself, is a separate element which will have its own tender issued:
"Construction of the roadworks will be delivered in two contracts, one of which is the last 1.5km from Barnahely to Ringaskiddy and it is the intention of the Contracting Authority that this section will go to tender in the coming months."
This doesn't seem like a big deal as that is a very small element which can perhaps start later and still be ready on time for the completion of the main motorway element, which measures 10.4 kilometres.
There was also supposed to be an MSA (Motorway Services Area) built as part of this, but there is no timeline for that and it can be opened independently.
The scheme is a Core Route in the EU's TEN-T (Trans European Networks) which makes it eligible for EU funding.
It can be seen on the map here by clicking North Sea/Mediterranean.
Pre-construction on the scheme continues apace with minor works such as wall realignment at Maryborough.
The occasional archaeological discovery is made such as this neolithic house.
These don't delay a project as these works are a standard part of the works programme. The site is thoroughly documented and if finds are made, anything worth keeping is removed.
When done the construction crews move in and the area is dismantled or buried.
The N11/M11 improvements have been split into two schemes, N11/M11 Junction 4 to Junction 14 Improvement Scheme (J4-J14 Scheme) and N11/M11 Bus Priority Interim Scheme (BPIS).
The former is now stalled in the planning process, which has ruffled a few feathers.
It appears the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has directly intervened. The BPIS continues to make progress, however.
The Preferred Route for the BPIS has been published.
On page 7, details of the latest version of the Preferred Option are shown.
- The Bray Bypass J4-J6 will have its hard shoulders converted to bus lanes.
- J6-J7 will have hard shoulder bus lanes and an offline 2-way active travel route (i.e. pedestrian and cyclist facility).
- J7-J8 will have northbound bus lane only, parallel service lane southbound and active travel route.
- J8-J9 will have northbound bus and active travel route.
Detailed aerial maps can be found on the Information Drawings.
Note that these drawings include the changes that are part of the J4-J14 Scheme including junction changes.
As previously noted, these latter elements are currently stalled in the planning process.
Some further openings of elements of the Dunkettle Interchange have taken place.
The most notable is the Tunnel -> M8 movement, which looks abrupt.
This video takes you up to it from inside the tunnel, though the actual slip is at 4:01.
However it does seem likely that when the temporary barriers visible at 3:59 are removed that there will be a longer entrance slip to the new movement which should improve things somewhat.
A spanner may have been thrown in the works on the M11/N25 Olyegate-Rosslare motorway, as a new requirement will mean that an MSA Motorways Services Area will have to be provided on the new route:
"The planned Oylegate to Rosslare Europort stretch of motorway will be delayed due to a new requirement for a large services area along the route.
Speaking at the September Wexford County Council meeting, Director of Services for Roads, Eamonn Hore confirmed the news, saying that previously services had to be located within 80kms of each other, but under a new requirement, they must be located within 50kms.
...
Mr Hore said a guide document is being released which will insist on a fully stocked services station along the route."
Additionally a requirement for an active travel route through Wexford town (a new requirement on all significant new builds) may add further delay.
The full scheme will receive some EU funding as it is a Comprehensive Route in TEN-T and a section of Euroroute E-01.
Update 19/08/2023:
A section measuring around 8 km of the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney road opened to traffic on the 11th August (apologies for delay in updating as I was away).
Maps of the West End, East End.
The section joins the unopened Ballyvourney Bypass and the opened Macroom Bypass.
This segment replaces a very low standard of N22 which was very twisty and dangerous.
It also entailed the removal of a temporary roundabout at the eastern terminus at Carrigaphooca Bridge which had been provided since the opening of the Macroom Bypass section last December.
This was in order to allow the west end of the town bypass to be accessed by traffic until this new segment was ready.
Some locals had protested against that removal; but the roundabout was demolished anyway.
Two fly-throughs of the new section can be seen on Youtube:
Right before opening,
After opening.
Note the tailback of traffic at the end of the opened section as it must rejoin the existing low-standard road.
The Ballyvourney Bypass is now the final part to be opened to traffic, which is expected at the end of October.
Great news for the M21 Adare-Foynes scheme in Limerick. It has been announced that Notices to Treat to the affected landowners have been issued. From the article:
Welcoming the confirmation that Notices to Treat were posted this Monday, Minister for State and Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick county Niall Collins commented:
"Following the recent withdrawal of judicial review proceedings which then allowed full planning permission to be granted, the next step is the issue of Notices to Treat to landowners. This is a major step forward in the project process and this allows negotiations on the purchase of the properties required to build the new road."
Once land has been compulsorily purchased, and the tender granted to a contruction company, construction can start.
It is looking like this will happen in 2025 or 2026.
A note on the process of road building in general in Ireland.
It was recently admitted by TII that the length of time for a road project to go from proposal to opening to the public has now increased to 15 years.
The time frames for the various stages that they pass through are listed on page 8 of this document which was released recently, and they can be summarised as follows:
Scope and pre-appraisal: 1-2 years
Concept & Feasibility, Options Selection, Design and Evaluation: 2-3 years
Statutory Processes, Enabling and Procurement: 2-5 years
Construction & Implementation, Close Out and Review: 3-5 years
Some of the increases in time are due to much-welcomed improvements in the Public Spending Code which are intended to prevent cost overruns, to avoid nasty surprises along the way and to enable a project to be fully costed as it passes through the project stages.
However these seem to have increased the amount of red tape which slows the process down.
Some would argue this is intentional when you are trying to subject an expensive project to a greater level of public scrutiny, but it looks like Ireland is going to continue to be behind other countries when it comes to the building of infrastructure as it seems to be so hard to get on with it in a timely manner.
Update 23/07/2023:
The latest news on the long-delayed N5 Strokestown-Ballaghderreen road in the west of Ireland is that it is expected that it will go to tender this September.
It is expected to take 2-3 years to build once underway.
The N59 Moycullen Bypass is making great progress and it is expected that it will see traffic in October.
There is a permanent new layout for traffic travelling on M8 south to Cork City Centre through the Dunkettle interchange.
This video graphically illustrates this with a flythrough.
Traffic previously used the old roundabout so this new arrangement, which involves having to drive to the next junction over and making a U-turn, may take some getting used to.
Update 10/07/2023:
The next large new road opening in Ireland will be the second phase of the Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme, which runs from west of Macroom to Ballyvourney, a distance of thirteen and a half kilometres.
It has been indicated that this is now anticipated in August, probably Aug 11th.
The latest update on the M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy project is as follows.
- Prequalification of contractors will commence in August.
- Construction is due to commence in Q4 2024, subject to PSC Gate 3 and Cabinet approval.
It should be noted that with a Green Minister for Transport who has made it very clear that he is opposed to large road projects, getting the project through gates may be more difficult than usual.
Watch this space.
At the Dunkettle Interchange project, the latest video indicates a slew of new links opening up simultaneously.
Note that now the permanent arrangement in order to get from the M8 to Cork City Centre is that you will have to head to the Little Island interchange in order to do a U-turn and come back in the direction of the city.
Meanwhile, Youtuber DroneHawk has captured some chaos happening as a result of the large-scale of reorganisation of the road network in the area.
Some motorists have taken the law into their own hands!
Update 15/06/2023:
The remainder of the Westport-Castlebar dual carriageway opened today.
The length of the section is 10 km and it runs from west of Castlebar to Westport.
The Castlebar section opened in April.
This completes Mayo's first dual carriageway, and the scheme is fairly high quality with several grade-separated junctions.
The scheme also includes the opening of a single carriageway northern bypass of the town of Westport.
Here are some reposted photos from Mayo County Council, and a drone video.
RTE has provided some reportage on the opening, with some negativity about trifling issues.
By the end of year, work is expected to begin on another N5 scheme - the beleaguered Scramogue-Ballaghaderreen section, which was started previously but the construction company went bust.
This project will be a 35 km single carriageway replacement of a very poor section of the N5.
When this is completed, most of the N5 will have been replaced - with much of the improvement in the last 15 years alone.
Update 12/06/2023:
Great news on the M21 Adare-Foynes scheme!
The three Judicial Reviews that were launched against the scheme last autumn (2022) have been dropped following discussions between the councils and the applicants.
This development in the case now frees the project to proceed to the next stage in its delivery.
Update 30/05/2023:
Here is drone footage of the N69 Listowel bypass.
It is still on track to be completed in early 2024.
The preferred route for the N3 Viginia bypass has been announced according to the press.
As anticipated, it follows the existing road closely, passing north of the town.
There will be a junction there to provide access to the town centre.
The route can be seen by zooming in on Cavan on this map.
The scheme is due to be completed by 2031, therefore should start in 2028 or 2029.
With the opening of the Castlebar bypass in April, the focus is on opening to traffic the Castlebar-Westport part including hopefully the Westport Northern Bypass.
It has been reported in the media that this opening will take place on June 15th.
This will be the only dual carriageway in Mayo.
A scandal is brewing with recent commentary by the Green Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan indicating the the N17 Charlestown-Collooney dual carriageway will "not be funded for many years".
The media are furious about it, as these articles indicate.
The 55 km road (40 km of improvements, the rest reusing the existing route) is in the NDP (National Development Plan) and it should not be possible for a single minister to unilaterally cancel one of its schemes like this.
Watch this space.
Update 02/05/2023:
On 26th April, a 10 km section of N5, the Castlebar Bypass, opened to traffic.
This youtube video is a detailed overview including the N84 and N60 junctions.
As of today, Google Maps is still not updated, however.
The remaining 10 km of the scheme as far as Westport is due to open some time in June.
This is the first dual carriageway to open in Mayo.
The latest video on the Dunkettle Interchange project indicates that many link roads are nearing completion and must open soon.
The entire project is still due to be completed in early 2024.
Update 22/04/2023:
It has been a long-running saga, but the N5 Castlebar-Westport scheme will see the Castlebar Bypass element opening on 26th April.
The road was recently driven on by US president Joe Biden and his cavalcade as they visited the area.
It seems they were the first non-construction traffic to use the new stretch.
Mayo Live reported straight away that Councillor Mark Duffy suggested the road be named after the US's top man.
Since the rest of the scheme had its opening date pushed out, there is now no longer an opening date to guide by, but the project team are guiding for early June.
At this stage it would be better to wait until an opening is less than a fortnight away so it will be a certainty!
Update 24/03/2023:
The N17 Claremorris Lisduff Interchange opened on 3rd March.
This grade-separates a major road junction east of Claremorris and is a big safety improvement.
Although not yet visible in aerial imagery, the works can be seen in Google Streetview.
Although previously planned to open in stages, the N5 Castlebar-Westport scheme is now going to open in its entirety in April with an official ribbon-cutting in May.
However, it seems that the Westport northern bypass section will probably not be part of this opening, as it still is not paved.
Castlebar to the roundabout east of Castlebar will likely be the extent of the planned opening.
There is no funding or progress for the N52 Tullamore-Kilbeggan upgrade, with the Green Minister for Transport stating that the road could be 10-15 years away.
This is probably because the improvement is entirely due to high levels of traffic and not for safety reasons, which are enough to cancel it in the eyes of the Green Party.
Update 16/02/2023:
The Traffic Counts have been updated for 2021 and 2022.
The post-pandemic rebound can be clearly seen nationwide, though levels are still marginally below 2019.
Traffic on the M50 has reached astonishing heights. At Cloverhill, between the N4 and N7 junctions, the count is now 151,000 vehicles per day, and the whole way between Ballymun and Lucan is above 140k.
Update 02/02/2023:
On Monday, the High Court officially quashed planning permission for the Galway Bypass project.
In a mystifying move, Galway City Council is going to re-submit its planning application in such a way that it still complies with the government's Climate Action Plan.
It is hard to see how this could lead to anything other than more years of delays, litigation and deadlock.
From the RTE article:
Permission for the 18km route was cancelled last October after it emerged that An Bord Pleanála had failed to consider the State's Climate Action Plan before granting approval in November 2021.
The plan, detailing how carbon emissions will be reduced by 51% by 2030, was published just days before the decision to grant permission for the N6 Galway City Ring Road.
It should have been factored into the process.
Now, the proposal is to go back before the board.
However, instead of having to go through the entire planning process once more, the project will be reviewed from the point at which the Inspector’s report on the application was first submitted to the planning board.
The Minister for Transport, Green Minister Eamon Ryan, has immediately dismissed this idea:
"It's vital that all our transport plans deliver the 50pc reduction in emissions we need this decade and go net zero in three [decades]," he said.
"The National Transport Authority, the local authority and our department are going to have to look at a new transport strategy for Galway that meets that climate target.
You can’t just go ahead and build roads that have an induced traffic system that means you can’t meet the climate targets.
So the plans for Galway are going to have to change. The exact elements of that, the combination of new public transport and other infrastructure, will be the outcome of that process."
This RTE piece has a 20-minute deep-dive on the issues.
Galway Chamber of Commerce claims the city's reputation is at risk.
Finally, Galway West Deputy Eamon O'Cuiv, clearly getting desperate, is calling for critical infrastructure projects to be excluded from Government emission targets.
He claims the government's climate policy is incoherent.
This city project is a textbook example of pitting road construction against public transportation, a futile battle because both must be accommodated in appropriate amounts.
In other news, the preferred route corridor has been announced for N17 Collooney-Knock. The map can be explored at the link. Here is a rundown:
From the Collooney end, a short section of the existing road will be upgraded by widening.
From there Ballynacarrow will be bypassed closely to the north.
The new road will pass Tobercurry a fair distance, about 2 km, to the north and west.
It will then run to the east of Charlestown and somewhat surprisingly is planned to intersect the N5 very close to the existing N5/N17 junction, which is grade-separated.
Since the new road will need to be grade separated too, it's not clear if two separate but close junctions will be built or if one new merged junction will be provided.
The old N17 here will not see much traffic after the new one is built so maybe the existing slips could be removed entirely and no access provided.
That would clear the way for the new road to have all the slips - and it looks like four sets of two would be needed since both the new N17 and the N5 shouldn't have median breaks or at least traffic should be prevented from turning across the opposing lane.
South of there, the new alignment ends at Knock Airport.
The scheme section from the airport to Knock has been dropped and the existing route is now only marked as "maintained" rather than improved.
This is a pity, as although the road has been improved in the last few decades, it is still not a very high standard.
The total length of road that will be improved is now 40 kilometres.
Regarding the road width, there is no news on whether this will be a dual carriageway or a single.
Although it was described as a dual some years ago, a Green Minister for Transport coupled with recent decisions to reduce the scale of other schemes (e.g. N2 Slane Bypass) means that this road may now only be built as a single carriageway.
This would still represent a game-changing improvement from its current standard, however.
In terms of timescale, it has been announced that there could be 4 phases for this road, so it could take over a decade to deliver in full.
Presumably a priority will be the Tobercurry bypass phase.
More detail has been announced on the plan for the N2 Slane Nypass.
The article shows a diagram of the public realm improvements that are planned for the existing bridge and streets.
Footpaths will be widened, the road carriageways narrowed and new green spaces added.
A planning application is expected to be lodged for the bypass in the first half of 2023 according to previous reportage.
Update 26/01/2023:
The beleaguered N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramogue project could restart in June 2023, according to this article from last month.
The scheme was awarded to a contractor last year but sadly the outfit went into receivership and the contract was terminated.
It usually takes up to a year for a scheme to be retendered and awarded again - this is what happened with the M8/N25/N40 Dunkettle Interchange project in Cork.
A more exact routing for the N24 Cahir-Limerick Junction scheme has been released.
The project would run from M8 Junction 10 west to Oola beside Limerick Junction railway station and features a bypass of Tipperary Town.
If built, the new road would replace by far the lowest-standard section of the N24.
The rest of the N24 from Oola to Limerick is straight with good sightlines, and from N24 to Waterford has many bypassed sections but the bypasses (especially Clonmel) tend to be of low quality.
There has been commentary from Eamon Ryan, the Minster for Transport, that the Tipperary Town bypass element may be prioritised over the rest of the project, but that is speculative for now.
It has been reported that three judicial reviews have been lodged against the M21 Adare-Foynes motorway project.
Based on what happened with the M28 project in Cork, these cases can be expected to add 2-3 years before construction can begin.
It was due to begin in 2 years (2025) so this target may be missed.
The target to have the scheme ready for the Ryder Cup in Adare by 2027 will probably not be met, but this event was never the most important factor at play.
There have been plans to bypass Adare for decades.
Update 10/01/2023:
The Castlebar section of the new N5 will open at the end of January, with the remainder of the scheme by April, as reported in the news.
Here is the latest update on the Dunkettle Interchange project.
It mostly focuses on the eastern segment of the scheme where the new Little Island interchange has been formed.
An interchange will be built at the Tower Road junction at Piltown, Co. Kilkenny.
This should take around 12 months to construct based on previous schemes.
There was an increase in the number of road fatalities nationwide in 2022, with 155 deaths compared with 137 fatalities in 2021.
This is as reported by the RSA.
Any increase is regrettable but this still compares well historically and the figure was 158 as recently as 2017.
Over the decades the rate has fallen by nearly 70% from figures in the high 400s in the 1990s.
Most fatalities were males and most were in rural areas.
Update 10/12/2022:
The 8 km Macroom Bypass opened in Cork on 9th Dec.
This bypass was promised for decades and it has been a long slow road to get to this point.
Construction has taken nearly 3 years, having kicked off in January 2020.
The project offered numerous geographical and geological barriers.
Some videos are available on Twitter: the official ribbon cutting ceremony, and a drive-through.
The remaining 14 kilometres of the scheme were previously estimated to be open within 6 months but the RTE article states this is envisaged for 2024 now.
The first stage of a big upgrade of the M11/N11 in Wicklow now has its details established on a scheme website.
There will be bus lanes both ways from Loughlinstown roundabout on the N11 at Shankill as far south as Junction 6.
There will be a northbound bus lane from Junction 8 to 9 which will involve the closure of accesses to residential dwellings, which will be diverted to the side road network.
There will be an active travel lane (walking and cycling) southbound on that stretch.
A graphical mock-up of the to-be scenario appears on Board 06 of the Banners document, and detailed design diagrams on pages 9-12 on the Drawings (aerial photos) document.
The works area is also drawn on the Map Viewer.
Update 27/11/2022:
A number of new movements are possible at Dunkettle Interchange in Cork, as new slips opened on 20th Nov.
A fly-through video of the area has been uploaded by Drone Hawk.
Update 19/11/2022:
After much speculation on the subject, a major change has been announced to the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney project.
A temporary roundabout will be constructed during November to enable a part comprising an 8 km bypass of Macroom to open on December 9 of this year in time for Christmas.
This is as reported in the media.
The location of the temporary roundabout will not have permanent access in the final arrangement, so the measure will only be use by traffic until the rest of the road is completed some time next year.
Once it is all open, there will be a Macroom North junction and a Macroom South junction.
The next junction will be far to the west on the way to Ballyvourney.
Note that as of now, the aerial imagery of the junction location is many years out of date, so the construction line of the new road cannot yet be seen.
Update 06/11/2022:
Two judicial reviews have been launched against the M21 Adare-Rathkeale-Foynes scheme.
The reviews simply mean that the granted planning permission is being challenged for legality by the public.
There are no details yet on who lodged them or why.
It has gotten to the point in Ireland that this type of legal challenge has simply become par for the course for major road schemes.
It may take a year or two but since construction on the project was not due to begin until around 2025, it may not even delay the project's start date.
The preferred route for N2 Ardee-Castleblayney has been made available on a GIS site.
The scheme incorporates the 2005 Carrickmacross bypass, which will be dualled, and 6 new grade-separated junctions will be provided.
Two existing junctions at Carrickmacross will be modified and expanded.
Update 14/10/2022:
Planning permission for the highly controversial M6 Galway Bypass has been quashed (annulled), as reported in the media.
The case was taken by Friends of the Irish Environment and An Bord Pleanala (Irish Planning Board) conceded that they had granted permission without taking into account the government's latest Climate Action Plan, which had been published a mere 4 days previously.
The Board will now re-examine the planning application in the light of the Climate Plan.
There is no certainty the road will ever be built as inflation in the construction sector is so high and there is no doubt this road will facilitate car use in the city of Galway, which is against national policy.
Separately there is a Bus Connects plan for Galway which will see the reorganisation of the city's bus system and the provision of bus and cycle lanes.
Update 07/10/2022:
A wondrous drone video of the M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy motorway project shows the archaeology work that has taken place along the route - the digging of test trenches and completion of fencing and moving of utilities.
The scheme is on track to start construction in 2024.
The beleaguered N5 Scramoge-Ballaghaderreen single-carriageway road scheme will be retendered on Dec 22.
Hopefully it will restart (more accurately just "start") some time next year.
Recent reportage speculated that the delay could last to the end of next year, however.
The large difference in progress on the N22 Macroom-Ballyvourney scheme seen between the Macroom Bypass (section 1) and the rest of the scheme (section 2) can be seen in recent drone videos.
At this time, Stage 1 is surely ready for an early opening if they could manage a temporary tie-in somehow.
No announcement to this effect has been made yet however.
Update 18/09/2022:
Here are some video drone updates on the Dunkettle scheme and the Macroom scheme.
The first half of the M8/N25/N40 Dunkettle video focuses on the local road network coming together to the northeast of the interchange, and the new flyover at Little Island.
Later on in the video the southern half of the area is covered.
The very end shows the place where there is currently an offslip from the roundabout into an industrial area right in front of the tunnel entrance.
From the layout of the new roads, it looks like this will be removed soon.
The Macroom video features some of the usual (from that drone operator) exciting flybys with the drone entering underpasses and culverts.
The latest news is that the eastern part of this new road will open before the west.
When dates are available they will be announced here.
And now for a timelapse video of the N3 Snugborough Interchange project.
The concrete beams for the second bridge are lifted into position at night, as a series of long flatbed trucks queue up, each with 2 or 3 beams aboard.
Closure of a carriageway was needed each time, but the bridge is now structurally complete and only needs paving and finishing works.
This video on the N5/N59 Castlebar-Westport scheme shows the advanced state of construction in the eastern half of the project and the primitive state of the western part, and especially north of Westport.
Latest news is that the N5 segment may open first with the N59 single carriageway north of Westport delayed to later.
Updates on the M4 Maynooth-Leixlip improvement scheme have been made available on the dedicated portal website.
Some improvement options have now been discounted and are off the table.
These include:
- Widening to 6 lanes with bus lanes
- Improving Junction 7 Maynooth and building a new junction immediately to the west
- Closing J7 Maynooth, converting to overbridge and building a new junction to the west and a new junction to the east
- Parallel single carriageway road closely following the motorway
The options that are still in play are:
- Adding bus lanes with no widening
- Adding bus lanes and widening from 2 to 3 lanes outbound (westbound)
- Improving J7 Maynooth
- Closing J7 Maynooth, converting to overbridge and building a new junction to the west
- Improving J6 Celbridge
- Improving existing overbridges
Update 31/08/2022:
The M21/N69 Adare Bypass/Foynes road has cleared planning permission after nearly 3 years awaiting a decision.
The process was subject to endless delays and the deadline for a decision was repeatedly pushed out, which was strongly criticised by business and political leaders.
Twitter announcement
Breakingnews announcement
"The development will include around 15.6km of dual carriageway between Foynes and Rathkeale along with more than 17Km of motorway between Rathkeale and the existing motorway network at Attyflin near Patrickswell."
There have been plans for an Adare bypass for decades.
The scheme will create a new motorway, M21, and in conjunction with the new N69, there will be a whole new road between Limerick and its port at Foynes.
A map of the scheme can be found on the M21 page on this site.
Update 06/08/2022:
The M20 motorway project between Limerick and Cork is moving one more step along, with the announcement that the tender for archaeological services has been released.
The project will involve building a motorway along the line of the existing N20 from north of Croom, Limerick to Blarney in Cork, and improvements to Limerick (Rail) Junction to enable zero-change railway journeys between the two cities.
Additionally there will be 80 kilometres of walking and cycling improvements in the villages and towns along the route.
The Government have put out Prospects 2022 - Ireland's Major Infrastructure Pipeline which contains expected start dates and costings for major road projects.
Sadly, only 4 major schemes (i.e. costing more than 20 million euro and therefore requiring ministerial/cabinet signoff) are due to start by end 2027, which is more than a 5-year period.
The good news is that all 4 are very large:
- N28 Cork to Ringaskiddy (this will be a motorway): 2024-2028
- N21/N69 Limerick to Adare to Foynes (this will be a motorway): 2025-2028
- Galway City Ring Road (not confirmed that this will be a motorway): 2026-2029
- M20 Cork-Limerick (a motorway) : 2027-2031
So from 2024 to 2027 there will be one motorway or near-motorway construction start per year.
It's worth noting that these will likely be the last motorways to ever be constructed in Ireland as no more are planned at this time.
Previously it was announced that the new N5 Castlebar-Westport scheme, which had been due to open in October of this year, was delayed to Q2 2023.
This has now been refined to 18 April 2023, according to TII board minutes.
The N17 Knock-Collooney scheme will have a preferred route published in October.
This is after several delays. As it is a long scheme and will be dual carriageway, it will be constructed in segments.
Hopefully the northern half is first as it is currently very low standard.
The latest M8/N40/N25 Dunkettle interchange video showcases the significant progress made so far.
In particular at 6:00 and 8:10 the complex merge/diverge between M8 and N25 onto N25 Eastbound can be seen to take shape.
These merges will join the N25 eastbound at this point but a lane will also diverge to the new Little Island Interchange.
The latter's overbridge can be seen to be structurally complete with only paving to be done.
In a similar way to how the N17 southeast of Claremorris is having a new junction installed to replace dangerous side accesses, the N5 Swinford bypass is planned to have the same.
Two new "bridges" as the journalist calls them, which hopefully will be full grade-separated junctions allowing exit and entrance in both directions, are to be built on the route.
This is to address safety concerns as the locations are accident blackspots.
The bypass was originally built in 1996.
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